Chirstimas Message From MP Jim Paice

Christmas Message from Jim Paice, MP for South East Cambridgeshire

I have heard it said that there are four stages in life:

1) You believe in Santa Claus

2) You don't believe in Santa Claus

3) You are Santa Claus

4) You look like Santa Claus.

I do not know what stage of life you would put yourself at, and I wouldn't want to think too long about which stage people might think I'm in!

2008 is likely to be remembered as the year of the global financial crisis (as well as the year of Great Britain's best medal haul at the Olympics since 1908, and the year the US elected its first black president), and I am aware that whatever stage of life we're in, the unprecedented financial events of this year are likely to have affected us all in some way.

Many people have lost their jobs, food prices are rising, mortgages are hard to come by and the pound is at an all time low. This Christmas may be very hard for some people and it would be churlish to pretend otherwise.

As your local MP I want to assure you that I will be working hard to do as much as I can to help the people of South East Cambridgeshire through the coming year whatever the challenges presented by the present recession. As a member of the Conservative front bench team I also want to commend to you the work that the Shadow Treasury team are doing to provide real solutions to the situation we are facing rather than just temporary fixes which we will pay for in the future.

And finally, let's not think that 2009 will be simply doom and gloom. I know the people of Cambridgeshire, and so I know that there will be much to celebrate over the next year hopefully including the creation of our very own country park...

JIM PAICE